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Friday, June 22, 2007

Random food shoutouts

1) I made "clean out the fridge" soup tonight, and WOW are beet greens tasty! Why have I been throwing these away????? I'm not a huge greens fan, I'll eat kale and chard and what have you but rarely cook them for myself. But these are sweet like the beetroot. mmm! And unsurpringly, the greens are more nutritious than the roots. Here's a good picture. (Aww. I have such a warm squishy place in my heart for religious vegetarians after the last year of eating in almuerzo places covered in bible verses.)

2) The amaranth salad I made for my homework turned out to be a terrible recipe. But on the plus side, in researching the nutritional benefits I found the answer to a question I'd forgotten to ask for the last 6 months - what the hell is kiwicha? In Peru they love them their native ancient grains, like quinoa. (Not so much in Ecuador, where they got the proper colonial mindset, and it's not a meal without a hefty portion of rice.) When I was traveling there, something called "kiwicha" kept turning up on all the ingredient labels, especially in cereals and these ubiquitous puffed grain bars. Somehow it slipped my mind until I read this line:Amaranth, also known as kiwicha... is frequently popped like popcorn and glued together with honey to create a bar that is eaten like a granola bar.Awesome, I can't wait to pop some myself. And to make the amaranth-blackberry muffins from my the Uprisings baking book, with the "olallieberries" that all the locals keep raving about and are just now in season. Other suggestions from The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods:"Add 1/4-1/2 cup seeds to your favorite soup recipe. It will expand and thicken, adding a rich, nutty sweetness to your soup." And just for Lauren - "Amaranth seeds make a hearty breakfast porridge. Add 1 cup seeds to 3 cups cooking liquid, bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium, cover, and cook until seeds are mushy, about 20-25 minutes."

Incidently, amaranth turns out to be RIDICULOUSLY nutritious. Forget all-american whole wheat. Amaranth has similar or higher levels of nearly EVERY nutrient. For example, 25% higher in fiber, 5 times the iron and calcium. Not to mention low glycemic index and gluten free. Geez.